The title of this muse seems at first to be a bit ambiguous but let me expand. It could be 40 years old. It could be 40 just as a number. It could be 40 days and nights; but it’s more than that in this context – it’s 40 years of married life with my dear wife and partner in life, Rosemary. That will happen on 31st August 2018. Ruby (so-called) anniversary. I think that’s quite a significant milestone for any married couple to reach. I do not intend to wax romantic in this short article but what I want to do is reflect briefly on the past 40 years and do that in the context of God’s faithfulness to us both. That Faithfulness is still our bedrock now as it has been through 4 decades.

Time Flies

The year 1978 seems a long time away. I had graduated from St Andrews Uni and was working as a Chemical Analyst for the then Tayside Regional Council. Rosemary was a District Nurse in Dundee and I had met her courtesy of her parents’ admirable Christian hospitality. We were married in what was then the Wellgate Free Church, Dundee, located adjacent to the present day underpass at the bottom of the Hilltown. It was a very happy day for the ‘young’ couple and for friends and family. The blessing of God had been pronounced on our marriage then, and the Lord has amazingly continued with that blessing hitherto. That’s not to say that married life has been a bed of roses by any means. But we can both say that He has not failed us nor has he abandoned us even when we have been less than faithful to him in varying degrees.

Fast Forward

Twenty years later in 1998, we had been blessed with 3 children, Stephen, Hannah and David who were 19, 17, and 16 respectively then, 2 being at Harris Academy for schooling and 1 at Dundee Uni. We were living in Lochee, Dundee in a 3-bedroom maisonette above Ladbrokes. I was Senior Chemist in a small electroplating outfit, having worked at Ferranti and Albacom prior to that. The Lord in his providence had brought us to live in a place within our means a few years earlier. It wasn’t Morningside. It was a test of faith for us in many ways, yet I believe the Lord taught us much through that experience of living in an environment which was quite symbolic of our broken world through sin: drug addiction, excessive drinking, rowdyism, unemployment, social poverty and frequent calls to the police to sort out unsocial behaviour. This was a formative time for us spiritually as a family. We were very much conscious of our need for God’s sustaining at every level. On reflection now, He did indeed help us through some difficult times in Lochee. He kept reminding us of our need to lean on Him. There were many happy times as well, especially when friends or family came to visit us. Our home was made a welcome stop for anyone who desired to come.

God Calls

In 2000, my life direction was changed in God’s providence to consider serving Him on a more full-time basis. Redundancy brought the challenge of ‘Where do I go from here?’ I had considered this and prayed about it with Rosemary for a while. Work had become wearisome. What were my real aims? What was my life to be about? God’s providence steered me to study at the Free Church College (now ETS) not knowing for sure where that would take me. It was in my heart to ‘delight myself in God’ more fully in His service. My family were totally behind me in all of this. God honoured that in many ways too.

Pastoral Ministry

In September 2003 I was ordained and inducted as a minister in Lochs Free Church, Isle of Lewis. The Lord confirmed to me this is what He wanted me to do. What? At 51 years of age? You’re well spent, MacLeod, and not equal to this task, I would think. True. But He gave me the strength to carry on. My weakness was His channel for showing it was all about Him, not me.

 

I was called and went to Gairloch, Wester Ross in 2011 and ministered there until 2016 when I took retirement (whatever that is!) to live in Dundee. It has been a joy for me to know that recently a new Free Church gospel ministry has begun in Gairloch, Kinlochewe and Torridon and I thank Him for His people there and in Lochs who are still dear to me and uphold Rosemary and me in prayer.

Conclusion

There is so much detail I had to overlook due to limitations on words. What have I learned?

  1. God is good. His love in Jesus for me and my family has been just amazing. We now have two lovely grandchildren.
  2. Milestones in our lives are humbling considering how little we deserve from our Lord. He continues to say, as we look back ‘I was with you there and there and there…’
  3. Romans 8:28 has become a precious verse for me over the years – the Lord uses even our failures for our good – that is His sovereign purpose for us – to do us good and to ultimately make us as good as we can be – like Jesus His Son and our Saviour.
  4. To God be all the glory, great things He has done indeed!

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Alasdair Macleod is a retired Free Church minister and an elder in St Peters.

August 2018